Over 3600 items of rubbish cleared off Coldingham Sands

Volunteers picked up 3,650 items of rubbish off Coldingham Sands during the 2015 Great British Beach Clean event last September.

The 65 local volunteers were part of a 6,000+ team who headed to beaches across the UK, collecting 3,298 pieces of litter on every kilometre of beach cleaned.

Organisers, Marine Conservation Society, said: “Thanks to each and every one of you - your support is a massive part of the fight to reduce beach litter on UK shores.

“In 2014 we found 2,457 pieces of litter on every kilometre of beach we cleaned - the highest amount since we began our annual September cleans. But in 2015 it got worse, with 3,298 items picked up per kilometre surveyed.

“It’s a damning indictment that current legislation to stop litter reaching the sea isn’t working.

“From public litter to industrial waste, fishing litter to fly tipping - this problem belongs to us all, so it can be fixed.

“Bottles are the story of this year’s Great British Beach Clean, with almost 100 being found on every kilometre we cleaned.”

In almost every part of the UK the number of bottles picked up had increased from 2014. 99 bottles were found, on average, per kilometre cleaned - an overall increase of 43%.

From the start of 2015, 19 beaches were selected to be monitored as part of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)- EU-wide legislation to ensure governments in European countries are reaching targets to reduce the litter you can actually see on beaches.

Information from monitoring these beaches four times a year through to 2018 will be used by the EU to check and see how UK governments are faring in the fight against beach litter.